Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit
by bringyourladder
Summary: This fic primarily serves to fill in Samantha Traynor's background and give life to her character. Much will be left of canon. The second chapter is up and takes place 3 months after the attack on Horizon. Summary will be updated to reflect the progression of the story. May or may not be FShep/Traynor - I haven't decided! Rated M for language.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: After my last play through of ME3, I decided that there just isn't enough Samantha Traynor out there. I started writing this frantically and finished this (long) chapter in a couple days, and I'm nearly done with the next (longer) chapter. Most of what I've written fills in Samantha's past – I thought BioWare gave her an awesome skeleton of a background. I decided to fill it in._

 _Regarding Samantha's childhood: I altered it bit. It's my understanding from gameplay/Codex that she was born on Horizon. However, the Horizon Codex entry states that at the time of ME2, humans had only lived there for 14 years; I place Samantha at about 24-25 in ME3. In light of this discrepancy, I've written it so that she was born on Earth but went to Horizon with her parents as part of the pilot habitation when she was young._

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Ones They Love**

Iera System, Horizon

" _Happy birthday to you; happy birthday to you-"_

 _"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DANIELLLLLL_ ," Samantha's voice rose several decibels over those of her family members as she approached the table. Carefully balancing the cake and trying not to trip, she belted out the final "Happy birthday to you!" as she set the confection in front of her brother. Pleased that she had managed to do multiple things at once without utter failure, she straightened and smoothed her shirt, beaming down at Daniel.

"I'm getting too old for this shit, you know," he raised his eyebrow at Samantha, grinning nonetheless.

"Daniel, language!" their mother gasped, swatting at his shoulder.

"It's a bit true, mum," Sam agreed with a tilt of her head. "If you two hippies hadn't dragged us out to the Terminus Systems he'd be nearly done with sixth form."

In the background Daniel unceremoniously extinguished the birthday candles with a single breath.

"We had no future in England, love," her mother said gently as she busied herself with plucking the candles from the cake.

"I know, I know," Sam responded, not unkindly. She'd heard the same refrain countless times, and her response was almost as impulsive as saying "bless you" when she heard a sneeze.

"We couldn't even pay for university," Diana continued, half to herself. Sam concealed an eye roll with mixed success.

Sensing his daughter's exasperation, Michael decided to jump into the conversation. "We were lucky to be blessed with such a brilliant and promising first-born," his grey eyes crinkled in a warm smile. "A full ride to school and a First Class Serviceman to boot!"

This time Sam's eye roll was accompanied by a faint coloring of her cheeks. "All right, all right," she murmured, waving at him. She was fairly sure he didn't even know what 'First Class' _or_ 'Serviceman' referred to, and he certainly wasn't saying her rank correctly, but nobody who'd spoken with Michael for more than ten seconds could ever have doubted his affection for his daughter.

"Oi!" Daniel cried out indignantly, shifting his family's attention back to himself. "It's _my_ birthday. How about heaping some compliments on me instead?"

"Right you are," agreed Diana, turning her focus back to their little gathering. "We'll just- oh, bollocks!" she muttered, frowning and setting her hands on her hips. Daniel suppressed a snort. "Samantha, dear, would you run back up to the prefab and fetch a knife?"

"Of course." Sam began to turn away.

"One big enough for cutting this cake!" Diana added sternly. Her daughter had an irritating habit of _technically_ following directions but ultimately doing something of absolute uselessness – and quite on purpose. Daniel always found it hilarious, and Sam could never resist making him laugh.

"I'll do my best!" she called over her shoulder, glad her mother couldn't see her grin.

Sam trotted up the gentle slope toward her family's prefab, humming a little to herself. It was a gorgeous day in the colony on Horizon, and she couldn't help a slight twinge of nostalgia. It had been six years since she'd left to attend Oxford University back on Earth; now she was stationed at Arcturus, functioning as a Junior Communications Analyst in Alliance R&D. She'd risen quickly through the ranks, her commanding officers having recognized her uncanny knack for identifying shortcomings in communication lines. Her talents had been used both to fortify Alliance intelligence dissemination and exploit enemy communications weaknesses.

The Traynors had been among the first to arrive at the colony, nearly 17 years ago, encouraged by an incentive program implemented by the International Council of United Peoples of Earth. ICUPE had established the program to promote swift and widespread colonization of other planets to help assert humanity's place in galactic society. Oftentimes, ICUPE jumped the gun on colony plans, preferring quantity of colonies over quality – many of their projects were doomed from the start. In fact, their greatest success, Eden Prime, had become Ground Zero for Saren's insane plan of galactic domination eighteen months prior. For this reason and more, young Samantha had been greatly apprehensive about colony life. But happily, with the help of her parents, Horizon became one of those infrequent success stories that raised humanity's esteem ever so slightly in the eyes of other races.

Sam reached the top of the hill, stepping onto a path that led to the Traynors' prefab. A large shadow moved into her peripheral vision, but she ignored it as she pushed on towards her destination. Suddenly, a deep hum sounded, vibrating the ground beneath her feet ever so slightly.

 _The hydraulic generators?_ she guessed, pursing her lips thoughtfully. _They're quite a bit louder than the last time I was on holiday. Perhaps they finally got some decent equipment from Elkoss. Not that knockoff rubbish they've been getting from some Omega back alley or god-knows-where…_

Her thoughts quickly evaporated as she approached the door to the prefab, tapping in the front door's release authorization key and passing through. The door whisked shut behind her, a gentle beep confirming that the lock had reengaged.

"Alright," Sam murmured to herself, looking around the kitchen. "Surely mum hasn't moved things around _that_ much…"

She began opening drawers, admittedly slightly rusty with regards to navigating a kitchen. She glanced up momentarily to the Mass Message Administrator. The MMA displayed a constant stream of colony-related news and was installed in the walls of all Horizon prefabs. Occasionally, galactic news made it to the MMA as well, but only events of great galactic import interrupted the cycle of colony-related announcements.

… _utenant Ashley Williams of the Systems Alliance joins Horizon as Chief SA Liaison - ICUPE increases Horizon annual budget by 1.3% for 2186 - Biweekly Town Leadership meeting moved to Th…_

 _Lieutenant Williams, eh?_ Sam thought, making a mental note to seek her out later and introduce herself. She'd seen the vids, of course. Every member of the Normandy's crew was considered legendary, and they all had the medals to prove it. She wondered briefly why such an esteemed soldier was posted on Horizon. She supposed it was because of their proximity to the Terminus systems, not to mention the fact that the Collectors were going about the galaxy plucking humans from their homes. Considering the fact that a larger military contingent would surely ruffle the feathers of Terminus races who were already resentful of humanity's presence, Sam decided that assigning Lieutenant Williams to the colony to keep the Alliance apprised of Horizon's safety was a hell of a good idea. In any event, she didn't intend to pass up the opportunity to meet a crewmember who had served under the Hero of the Citadel.

Pulling herself out of her musings, Sam returned to shuffling through the kitchen drawers for a knife that would mollify Diana.

"For fuck's sake, mum, where the bloody hell did you put all the cutlery?" she exhaled in exasperation, shutting yet another drawer after a fruitless search. "Honestly, why would you even need to m-"

"First time in a kitchen then?" Daniel teased from behind her. She whipped around, glaring at him as he moved into the room. "I thought the military was supposed to make you _more_ mature and responsible, but here you are, losing horribly on the battlefield of domestic living."

Samantha huffed indignantly. "Yes, well, I must have missed that day in boot."

Daniel snorted and Sam grinned in response, shaking her head.

"I've missed you, sis," her brother said after a moment. "And it doesn't hurt that having you around takes some of mum and dad's attention from me."

"I wish I could get back more," Sam shook her head. "After all this mess with the Collectors it's a miracle I got even three days of leave. I reckon it helps that I put in my request ages ago…" she trailed off, looking seriously at Daniel. "Have you heard anything about it? The Collectors, I mean."

The young man shrugged his shoulders. "A bit, from eavesdropping on mum and dad. No specifics though – I think most of the others in the Leadership aren't taking the reports seriously. They think that the fact the Alliance only sent one soldier here means everything is being blown out of proportion. "

Samantha clicked her tongue in irritation. "It's likely the opposite."

Daniel shrugged again. After a moment, he continued. "Well, enough of that ominous shit. Let's talk about something fun. Are you still seeing that girl- what was her name? Becky? Becca?"

"Rachel," Sam corrected him with an eye roll. "And _god_ no."

"That bad, eh?" her brother asked, raising a brow and grinning.

"Worse," she sighed. "Honestly, we sleep together _one time_ and next thing I know she's pinging my omni tool every five seconds. I was suffocating." Daniel's eyebrows shot up in skepticism. "What?" she asked, seeing his look. "You know I like my space! Can't help it if I prefer being a free agent," she rolled her shoulders with feigned cockiness.

"Ah, yes, my sister the heartbreaker!" Daniel's voice cracked at the last word as laughter spilled out. Sam punched his shoulder playfully. "She was _hot_ , though!" He insisted.

"She was," Sam agreed, a coy smile playing on her lips. "But not hot enough, unfortunately."

"Well, nobody's perfect," Daniel nodded sagely. "You know, next time you sh-"

Suddenly, alarms like Samantha had never heard before in the colony blared to life; she could've sworn she felt her brain vibrating in her skull.

" _WHAT THE FUCK?!"_ she shouted, looking away from Daniel to cast her eyes around as she slammed her hands over her ears. A beat later, the display on the MMA shifted, the text turning bright red and emitting a faint strobe.

 _ *****ALERT***COLONY-WIDE EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN***ALERT***REMAIN IN YOUR HOMES AND DO NOT LEAVE FOR ANY PURPOSE***ALERT***ALL BUILDINGS TO BE SECURED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE***ALERT***THIS IS NOT A DRILL*****_

Sam stared in horror at the messages; the alarms were muffled through her hands but she could still feel the vibrations chattering her teeth.

 _Mum and dad!_ Her eyes widened and she looked around to Daniel once again. His face was stricken with fear like she'd never seen before, and the sudden pale of his complexion told her he was thinking the same thing. Together, brother and sister rushed over to the door, tapping desperately at the interface to get it open despite the warning on the MMA.

 _Emergency lockdown has been initiated. Please enter administrative override code._ The text appeared on a small screen adjacent to the door, and Sam looked wildly at Daniel.

"Override code? What is this?!" she shouted over the wailing of the alarms.

He shrugged helplessly. "I've no idea, I've never seen it before!"

Sam let out a grunt of frustration, pounding at the door and glaring at the red interface. Part of her knew it was futile, but her parents were out there; she would be damned if she was going to simply accept their situation.

Looking back out of the window, her dark brows knit in confusion. For a brief moment, Sam wondered how it was that twilight had come upon them so quickly – the darkening sky was in complete contrast to what she'd experienced walking back to the prefab from the park. Suddenly, she felt a cold jolt of realization in her gut. It wasn't the setting sun that was darkening the sky; squinting and leaning forward, she could see that what she believed to be night's approach was instead immense clouds of…

 _What in the bloody hell_ are _those?_ Dark swarms of what looked like large bugs were writhing en masse in patches outside. All Horizon residents were _more_ than used to giant bugs. The gravity on the colony planet was lower than that of Earth, and as a result, the native insect-type inhabitants had become massive over the course of their evolution. Indeed, Sam believed any trace of bravery in her character could be attributed to Horizon's bugs, the likes of which were otherwise only seen in horror vids.

But she'd never seen anything like what she was witnessing now.

"What the fuck are those things?" Daniel screamed, echoing her thoughts.

Suddenly, a loud _WHOMP_ sounded, audible even over the screaming of the klaxons. The giant bug-things were attacking the window, throwing themselves repeatedly against the glass. Daniel fell to the ground trying to scramble back even as tiny cracks began to spread across the glass. Sam grabbed her younger brother under the arms, hauling him to his feet and pushing him deeper into the prefab.

He already knew the destination she had in mind. They turned down a narrow hall and pushed open a false panel in the wall, revealing a small room with a couple shelves of canned food and water flasks. Squeezing inside, Sam pulled the false panel back over the covering while Daniel approached a terminal on the wall. He took a couple fruitless stabs at the screen.

"Bollocks! I don't remember how to do this – it's been ages since we've had a lockdown drill!"

"Move!" Sam shouted, shoving him aside. She drew up the menu, scrolling through the options with lightning-fast speed. As soon as she made her selection, a door began sliding across to cover the false panel she'd been moving only moments before. When it reached the other side, the alarms were significantly dampened, and Sam could hear the grinding of the steel bolts as they slid into their catches.

She exhaled shakily, stumbling back against the wall and sliding to the ground, joining Daniel where he was already sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs as he rocked slightly.

"Will this place really keep them out?" he asked uncertainly, staring at the door.

Sam shrugged. "A solid meter of reinforced steel and concrete all the way around? I would like to think so, but…" the cracking glass of the window echoed in her head, "I'm not sure."

The air between them was thick with the thing they were both refusing to say. Finally, Daniel cracked.

"Mum and Dad…" his voice hitched and he swallowed the rest of his words. Sam watched as his gaze grew heavy with tears; she began to feel a heat in her own eyes.

"Maybe they made it inside in time. The park maintenance shed was right there – it's got the same lockdown protocols as the prefabs," she told him, sounding unconvinced even to herself.

"Yeah," he agreed nonetheless. "You're probably right…"

Samantha took a couple deep breaths, pressing her hands to her eyes and suddenly glad she'd actually remembered to take her medication earlier that morning. She was usually terrible at it – if she'd forgotten today she likely wouldn't have made it past the kitchen once the alarms started sounding off.

Asthma was fairly rare in the late 22nd century – its genetic underpinnings were easily identified and corrected, and those cases induced by environmental factors were easy enough to defend against epigenetically if they were identified in time. Sam's condition was caused by the latter – something about Horizon's atmosphere did not agree with her immune system and had resulted in a marked weakening of her lungs. Normally it would have been a quick fix, but there was a reason that Horizon had safe rooms in every prefab. ICUPE had decided that its proximity to the Terminus systems warranted advanced home defense, at the expense of all else, including health care. Budget allocations for genetic and epigenetic therapy were reserved for only the most severe diseases, and Sam's condition could be treated by oral medication. Dr. Ricardi, the physician who had treated her when she'd first begun developing systems, told her that back in the 21st, folks with asthma had to use an inhaler – an archaic device that only worked if administered in time. These days, preventative medication could be ingested to severely decrease the chances of suffering an asthma attack. Unfortunately the drug had a short half-life and had to be taken at least once a day, depending on the individual's activity level – a fact that Samantha usually neglected.

Seeing her steady herself, Daniel gave his sister a sideways glance. "Took your pill today?"

Sam swallowed, nodding and looking back at her brother. "Amazingly."

"When?" he asked, not assuaged by her answer.

"Early this morning," she said quietly.

He gave her a meaningful look. "How much time do you have left?"

She bit her lip and glanced at her omni tool for the time. It was early evening.

"I've got time," she sighed, not wanting to worry her little brother.

"How much?" he demanded. "Sam, this is serious; I can go back out there-"

"No!" she said, louder than she'd intended. Taking a breath, she continued, "I've got- I've got a few hours…"

She could see Daniel's jaw working as he stared back at her. Apparently deciding there was no use in getting worked up over it at the moment, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. "Fine. It'll be fine."

"Yeah," she agreed quietly, wondering how such a small word could feel like such a huge lie.

A couple tense moments passed before Daniel spoke again. "So what now?"

Sam swallowed, a sick feeling roiling in her stomach. "Now we wait." She could see Daniel nodding out of the corner of her eye, dropping his head onto his forearms. "We wait, and we pray."

xxx

A silence fell on the room.

"The alarms stopped!" Samantha exclaimed, grabbing Daniel's hand and pulling him to his feet. She moved over to the terminal, pulling up the grainy security footage of the front of their prefab. The quality was poor so she couldn't be sure, but Sam didn't think she could see those bug-things outside any longer.

She turned to look over her shoulder at her brother. "Ready?" He swallowed audibly and nodded, the anxiety plain on his face. Nodding in return, she glanced back at the terminal and swiftly disabled the safe room lockdown. The massive door ground open, and she placed her hands against the cool metal of the false panel. Taking a deep breath, she pushed against the panel, sliding it out of the way.

Lifting her hand back towards Daniel to indicate for him to stay put, she leaned through the opening, peering down the hallway in both directions before stepping through. Treading softly down the hall, she entered the kitchen, glancing around. She distantly registered Daniel's quiet footsteps behind her as she examined the damage to the window. The glass had nearly given, but apparently once the siblings had disappeared from view, the bug-things had lost interest and gone on a different way. A sharp beep drew her attention to the MMA, and she turned around in time to see the text shift.

 _ *****ALERT***LOCKDOWN HAS BEEN LIFTED***ALERT***PLEASE PROCEED TO COLONY CENTER FOR EMERGENCY EVACUATION***ALERT***BRING ONLY ESSENTIAL ITEMS WITH YOU***ALERT*****_

She whipped around to see the security indicator on the door had been switched from red to green, and she quickly hurried over and tapped it. The door slid open obediently.

"Come on!" she called to Daniel, not looking back as she sprinted through the door and back down to the park where their parents had been. As she bolted across the grass and down the hill, a thought flickered through her mind that she probably hadn't moved this quickly since boot. In moments, she had arrived at the park proper.

It was chaos.

The colonists had apparently heeded the MMA and immediately come down to the colony Center, which was located at the other end of the park. People were darting about, looking frantically through the sea of faces trying to find their loved ones and friends. Sam could see a couple members of the Leadership rushing around with data pads, hurriedly cross-referencing their colony census with those who had made it down to the Center.

"Help!" she heard someone call from behind her. She looked over her shoulder toward the gardens and spotted someone waving their hands frantically in the air. Sam took off in their direction, Daniel on her heels.

"What's happened?" she asked, only slightly breathless as she approached a hysterical man. "Mr. Ricardi?" she rushed to his side.

"Please, Samantha, Pamela and Ani-" Sam followed the direction of his gesturing and gasped. Scrambling over, she peered within.

Two pod-like things like she had never seen before lay on the ground, smelling of earth and something bitter that she couldn't identify. Through the glass of the pods, she could see the faces of Dr. Ricardi in one and her daughter, Ani, in the other.

"I can't get them open!" Mr. Ricardi shouted from behind her.

Sam clutched at the edges of Ani's pod, trying to gain traction without success. She could see Daniel from the corner of her eye failing similarly. Letting out an uncharacteristic snarl of frustration, she shot to her feet and rushed to the garden, picking up a large rock and returning to the pod. She raised the stone up above her head, ignoring Mr. Ricardi's pleas of caution, and brought it down hard against the glass.

It cracked from her first blow but didn't break. She'd caught her fingers beneath the makeshift battering ram and felt immense shooting pain in her hands. Gritting her teeth and breathing through it, she brought the rock down again and again, each time harder than the last.

"Sam?" Daniel called out as he watched his sister beating the pod with the stone, likely shattering several of her fingers in the process. He'd never seen her like this before – his sister had always been somewhat reserved, analyzing and calculating all possible consequences before taking an action. She hadn't even hesitated to grab the rock and start in on the glass with it – when she'd crushed her own fingers, he hadn't heard so much as a grunt of pain. An idle thought flickered through his head that perhaps military life really _had_ changed her.

Finally the glass broke. Sam tossed the rock vaguely in Daniel's direction and grabbed at the opening, using the sharp edges as handholds. A hot, slick liquid spread across her hands, and somewhere in her mind she registered the feeling of glass shards penetrating her skin.

Standing slightly, she hauled with all her strength, engaging her legs in her effort. The Alliance required intense PT for enlisted servicemembers, but even still she was straining her muscles to their limit. Finally, she could feel the lid of the pod begin to shift from its seal. Renewing her efforts, she bent her legs and pulled upwards again. Once free of the seal, the lid began to move more easily, and finally she had pulled it open enough to reach in and extract Ani. Tugging the young girl free from the pod, she toppled over backwards and became vaguely aware that Ani, unconscious on the grass next to her, was covered in some kind of goo.

Meanwhile, Daniel was still working to break open the glass of Dr. Ricardi's pod. Sam looked over just as a flash of blue armor appeared from her periphery and moved Daniel aside. Her eyes caught the glimmer of silver bars on the shoulders of the armored figure, and she watched as Lieutenant Williams brought her rifle high over her head, driving the butt into the glass, tossing it aside at the sound of shattering. Reaching down, Williams grabbed at the glass just as Sam had done, but with the benefit of thick, reinforced gloves. Only moments later, she had loosened the lid from the pod and pulled Dr. Ricardi's body from within, laying her gently on the grass. Sam could hear Mr. Ricardi sobbing gratefully as he moved between his daughter and his wife.

Sam shot to her feet, catching Williams's eye and snapping to a salute. "Lieutenant Williams!"

Ashley's eyebrow arched – she'd never seen this woman before, and her eyes flickered to the crimson dripping from the stranger's hands, noting briefly that her pinky finger was bent in at an unnatural angle – but she returned the salute nonetheless. "Report!"

"Serviceman First Class Traynor, ma'am," Sam responded crisply. "I'm a Junior Communications Analyst stationed on Arcturus – here on leave visiting family, ma'am."

"At ease, Traynor," Williams told her. Samantha immediately moved to parade rest, leaving behind a dark streak of blood on her forehead. "Your family – they all accounted for?"

Feeling the heat in her eyes once more, Sam glanced to Daniel. "Only my brother, ma'am. We went to the Center to look for our parents, but came here to help Mr. Ricardi instead."

Ashley's dark brows knitted together in concern and Sam could see a flash of empathy in her brown eyes. The lieutenant cleared her throat. "Good woman," she said, clapping Sam on the shoulder. "Come on, I'll help you look."

"Thank you, ma'am," Sam sighed, turning and trotting back down to the park.

"We were celebrating my brother's birthday," she informed Ashley, "when he and I went back to the prefab to fetch something. We were in the kitchen when, when, uh-" Sam swallowed down the bile that had risen in her throat.

"It's alright, Traynor," Williams told her. Sam nodded curtly, leaving her sentence unfinished.

They reached the table where she had left her parents, but Michael and Diana were nowhere to be found. Sam whipped around frantically, searching through the colonists who were still gathered in the park proper. Spotting one of the Leadership members she'd seen clutching a data pad earlier, Sam ran up to her.

"Mrs. Delaney," she said, grabbing the woman's arm as best she could, oblivious of the blood that still flowed from her palms. "Please, my mum and dad…"

The woman looked around and gazed at Sam for a moment, her brows drawn together. Her eyes began to glisten.

"Sam...I'm so sorry." Laura Delaney's voice cracked when she finally spoke.

Samantha searched Mrs. Delaney's eyes, shaking her head slowly. "No…"

Laura placed a hand on Sam's shoulder, gesturing with her data pad. "Two of the other colonists – the Nuon brothers – they saw…" she gave a quick shake of her head, suddenly unable to meet Sam's eyes. "They saw them take your parents."

"Them- who is 'them'?" she asked, gripping Laura's arm harder. When Laura didn't immediately answer, Sam's voice shot up, " _Who the bloody hell is 'them'?!_ "

"The Collectors, Sam," the older woman answered, finally meeting her eyes again.

"No," Samantha whispered, releasing her grip on Mrs. Delaney's arm and stepping back a couple paces.

"Sammy?" Daniel's voice came from somewhere behind her.

Sam shook her head, looking down at the ground but seeing nothing. Suddenly, her lungs constricted, cutting off her airflow – she clutched at her chest, leaving behind a bloody handprint as she stumbled to her knees and gasped for breath.

"Sam!" her brother's voice sounded oddly far.

"What's happening?" she heard Lieutenant Williams from that same far-off place.

"Asthma attack – hang on!"

Sam arched her back, trying to open her diaphragm as much as possible. She couldn't contemplate why her medicine had worn off already – all her energy was focused on drawing as much air with each breath as she possibly could. Her peripheral vision began to grow blurry, but she could see a smear of blue moving next to her and felt a hand on her back.

"Hey, hang in there." It was Lieutenant Williams. "Your brother's getting help."

Sam nodded in acknowledgement, slightly mortified by the sharp wheezing of her restricted breaths.

A few moments passed before Williams spoke again, this time more excitedly. "Here! He's back!" She stood and moved away from Sam, making room for Daniel to move in. He pulled up a tab at the end of a small tube he was holding and removed a cap from the other end, revealing a thick needle.

"Here we go, Sammy!" he shouted, jamming the needle into her thigh.

She grunted, more so at the force with which he'd stabbed her than the needle itself. A few seconds passed, and she could feel the tension in her chest easing up as her airway dilated, allowing an influx of oxygen with every breath she took. Her vision began clearing, the dark spots gradually fading away, until finally, she could stand. Leaning against Daniel for support, she continued to breathe deeply.

"Good as new, hey?" he asked, his voice trembling with relief. Despite her newfound air, Sam shook her head, and Daniel looked at his sister quizzically.

"They're gone, Dan." She met his eyes. "Mum and dad are gone."

His face fell, tears springing to his eyes. He shook his head, much in the same way Sam had when Laura had informed her. Taking a ragged breath, he refocused his gaze on his sister. "The Collectors?"

Sam nodded, looking away momentarily. When Mrs. Delaney had told her, she wanted to collapse then and there – she nearly had. For a second, Dan had looked like he might as well, and Samantha's older sibling instincts kicked in. She pulled him into a tight hug and held him for a few beats, Ashley looking on with a grim expression.

When they pulled apart, Daniel swiped at his eyes and Sam could see a hardened look on his face that she wasn't familiar with. He looked over his sister's shoulder at the lieutenant before stepping around and towards Ashley.

"I want to enlist."

"Daniel!" Sam cried out with shock.

Without looking back at his sister, he amended his statement to the lieutenant.

"I need to enlist."

"Daniel, think about this," Sam pleaded, grabbing her brother's arm.

"I don't need to!" he whipped around before Ashley could respond. "There's nothing here for me anymore!" his voice was desperate. "Mum and dad are gone – they're fucking _gone_ , Sam! You're off at Arcturus, doing something useful and meaningful – I'm going to do something meaningful, too! I need to take these bastards down!" Brother and sister stared at each other intensely for several beats before Sam sighed, rubbing the back of her hand across her forehead, newly conscious of the blood that still covered her palms.

Samantha had never been one to rush off into battle, unless it was chess. She'd only enlisted in the Alliance to pay for university, where she'd studied quantum engineering, of all things – her knowledge of quantum mechanics was one of the things that made her so adept at understanding both military and civilian communications systems. Sam had been – and still was – the nerdy type; she usually preferred a book or a strategy game to most of the activities her fellow students had enjoyed. Daniel was different – outgoing, charming, sure of himself. Everything he did, he did with conviction and purpose, and Sam could see that same conviction in his gaze now. Although she'd never shared his single-minded determination, being on Horizon when the Collectors hit, taking her family and who knew how many others…she understood Daniel's impulse to 'take the bastards down.' She felt it, too.

"Okay, Daniel," she nodded, glancing at the lieutenant and then back to her brother. "I understand."

"Thank you," he whispered and grabbed her shoulder before turning around to Ashley, who nodded at him.

"A couple Alliance shuttles have landed over behind the Center to begin evac. Tell them Lieutenant Williams sent you over to get started on the paperwork, and they'll set you up with a recruiter. You'll have to clear medical and basic eligibility requirements, but I'm not gonna lie – we're spread pretty thin right now, and we need all the help we can get."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, before turning back to his sister.

"Dan," Sam whispered.

"Don't try to talk me out of it," he told her sternly.

She shook her head, blinking back her tears. Opening her mouth to speak, she changed her mind and instead pulled in him for a hug. "Keep in touch, hey?" she whispered in his ear. "You're all I've got left now…"

She felt him smile against her neck. "And you're all I've got," he responded. "Although knowing you – well, let's just say I wouldn't bet against us." He pulled back and smiled at her, bringing his hand to her cheek. "I'll see you soon, Sammy."

"Yeah, yeah," she murmured, her eyes still watery. "Get out of here, you twat."

He snorted a laugh, grinning at her for a couple more moments before he turned away and jogged off toward the Center.

Sam watched him go and turned back to the lieutenant. Ashley had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Your brother is a good kid."

"Right you are, ma'am," Sam agreed, smiling sadly.

"It seems he gets it from you."

Samantha ducked her head a little. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Call me Williams," the lieutenant said. "I think you've at least earned that today." Ashley glanced down at the servicewoman's mangled hands and bloody clothes. "Come on, I'll take you to triage and we'll get you patched up – who knows what the hell was in those pods."

Sam silently agreed, following the lieutenant and looking down at her hands. Deep punctures were peppered across her palms, many of them still oozing dark crimson – her crushed fingers were nearly black with pooling blood and throbbing painfully. She looked down at the rest of her body and saw that her clothes had become largely stained with dirt and blood. There was a small tear in her pants where Daniel had injected her with the needle, and she could feel an impressive bruise already beginning to form.

"Over here," Williams interrupted her thoughts, gesturing in the direction of the med tent. There were about a dozen or so colonists receiving treatment from Alliance medics. "Make sure you tell them you're a servicewoman – we take care of our own." Ashley clapped her hand on Sam's shoulder. "You did a fine job today. I know you're Intelligence, but you'd make a hell of a soldier," she told the younger woman seriously.

"Thank you, ma'am," Sam responded with a curt nod, hiding her surprise at the lieutenant's compliment.

"Williams," Ashley corrected.

Sam smiled. "Williams. Thank you again."

Ashley nodded, speaking out once more as Samantha turned to go. "And, Traynor – I'm sorry. About your folks."

Sam met the lieutenant's gaze, swallowing a lump in her throat. "Me too," she sighed. "They were good people."

Williams nodded once more. "They'd have to be – people like you and your brother don't come around every orbit."

Sam smiled gratefully. "I'll see you around, Williams."

"Copy that," the lieutenant responded, grinning and shifting her gaze away. Before Sam could turn away fully, however, she saw Ashley's eyes darken to almost black. Slightly panicked, Sam followed her gaze to see what had upset her so suddenly, worried it was another round of Collectors.

For a moment, she could see nothing in evidence. A figure clad in black armor was making its way up the hill, almost in a beeline for the lieutenant. The figure reached up and unlocked the attached helmet, hauling it off and coming to a stop.

Sam gasped, looking back at Ashley, who had begun marching resolutely toward Commander Shepard.

 _She's alive?_ Sam almost couldn't believe her eyes.

She could still remember the day that news of Shepard's death hit the extranet two years ago. The hot burn of loss had immediately taken up residence in her chest. Sam had never known the Spectre in person of course, but Shepard had been a sort of poster child of the Alliance. Although there was no fanfare, or even an organized ceremony, for her appointment to the Citadel Special Tactics and Reconnaissance force, Sam had watched the vid more than once. For reasons she couldn't quite articulate, she'd always found herself drawn to the Commander; it might have been her unprecedented accomplishments or her unwavering honor or, most likely, both. At the very least, there was a broody darkness in the woman's green eyes that Sam found immensely alluring.

And then, only months ago, the rumors had begun flying about Arcturus – sightings of the Commander on the Citadel, Illium, Omega. Although she sometimes found gossip entertaining, Sam never put any stock in it. A decorated soldier returning from death? It was the stuff of science fiction, an egregious rumor - but one that was, apparently, true.

She moved to follow Williams as the lieutenant strode towards Shepard and the two figures that now joined her. From her vantage point, Sam could see an armored turian – she couldn't be sure, but she thought it might be Garrus Vakarian, another famous member of the Normandy's crew. If it was him, he had a lot more scarring than she remembered from the vids; it looked like he'd tried to stop a gunship with his face. The other person she didn't know, but she felt a jolt in her stomach when the saw the Cerberus logo emblazoned on the woman's chest.

"Ash," relief was etched on the Commander's face. "I heard you were here, I thought maybe-"

Sam didn't find out what the Commander thought. Ashley stalked right up to Shepard, swinging out a right hook and catching her former CO across the chin – hard enough to stumble the Hero of the Citadel.

" _Cerberus_ , Shepard?!" Ashley cried out, pointing accusingly at the dark-haired woman whose bodysuit bore the Cerberus logo. The stranger merely blinked at the enraged lieutenant.

Realization dawned in Sam's mind. The rumors that Shepard was alive had always been whispered with a dark undercurrent – not only was she alive, they said, she was working with Cerberus. 'The Illusive Man's puppet' was an unpleasant epithet Sam had heard on more than one occasion. Even if _somehow_ the Commander was alive, Sam had refused to believe that particular claim. Seeing her here now however, with this Cerberus woman…the doubt crept up into her gut.

Shepard spit to the side, clearing her mouth of blood. "Hold the fuck up, Ash," she raised her hand toward the lieutenant in an attempt to pacify her. "It's more complicated than you know."

"What is there to know?" Williams gestured wildly. "You're working for a fucking terrorist group, Jo! That's all _any_ of us need to know!"

"I'm not working for them!" Shepard retorted hotly.

"Sure could have fooled me," Ashley spat. "How did you do it, Shepard, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" The Commander responded, eyeing her warily.

"Don't play stupid with me. How did you fake your death? And why _the fuck_ would you do it?" William's voice hitched.

 _Shit_. Sam's eyes widened as she watched Shepard cast down her helmet before throwing a right hook of her own. Seeing the helmet fall, Ashley had shifted a little, but the blow still connected with her ear.

"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about!" Sam heard Shepard yell as she started in again on Ashley. Within moments, it was an all-out brawl.

 _Shit shit shit shit,_ was the only thing Sam could think as she sprinted over to the battling women. She grabbed for Ashley's arm but instead caught an elbow in the gut, stumbling to the ground as the wind was knocked out of her.

 _Bloody hell_ , she thought, clambering to her feet and wincing as she put pressure on her broken fingers. _Two of the most revered humans in the galaxy and they're fighting like schoolchildren_.

This time, she watched Ashley's movements, timing her interruption. She lunged in, snatching the lieutenant's arm and hauling back, vaguely aware that the turian was doing the same thing to Shepard.

"Hey!" Ashley called out indignantly, looking around to see who was interrupting her punching spree.

"Take a breath, Williams!" Sam grunted, moving in front of the lieutenant and placing her hands forcefully on the woman's shoulders.

Ashley moved to push Sam out of the way, but the younger woman wouldn't be daunted. She dug in her heels and held her ground until the lieutenant threw up her hands and stepped back. Sam whipped around to see Shepard swipe at her bloodied mouth.

Williams was shaking her head vehemently, looking first at the Commander and then to the turian. "You too, huh, Garrus?" she snorted. "Un-fucking-believable."

"It really isn't what it looks like," Garrus said, his gentle tenor taking Sam aback slightly. Ashley only gritted her teeth, glaring hard at him.

Sam looked from the turian to Shepard, unintentionally locking eyes with the Commander. Instinctively, she snapped into a salute, her heart skipping a beat. Cerberus or not, Shepard was still the Hero of the Citadel.

 _And the Butcher of Torfan_ , Sam's doubt whispered in her head.

 _Whatever,_ came the response. _She's Commander fucking Shepard, and I'm bloody saluting her._

"Commander," she stated. "Serviceman First Class Traynor, ma'am." She recited automatically. Shepard held her hands up.

"Easy, there. You don't have to do that, I'm-"

"Damn right," Ashley jumped in. "We don't salute _traitors_ , Traynor." The lieutenant's voice was venomous.

"Ash-" the Commander pleaded.

"Let's go," Williams murmured, grabbing Sam and tugging her back to the med tent.

Glancing frantically at Shepard, Sam made eye contact with her once more, wincing when she saw a flicker of something sad and broken in the Commander's eyes.

"Come on, Vakarian," she heard Shepard mumble dejectedly before turning on her heel and heading in the other direction. Reluctantly, Samantha tore her eyes away from the Commander's back, following Ashley obediently to the med tent.

The fight between the former crewmembers had been loud, and there wasn't a soul in triage that was even pretending to not have heard. Everyone had ceased working and was staring unabashedly at both the approaching lieutenant and the retreating Commander – a fact Williams immediately addressed.

"There had better be a damn good reason you're all neglecting your duty!" she shouted at the cluster of Alliance medics.

There was a disorganized chorus of "Sorry, ma'am" with accompanying salutes before everyone returned to their tasks.

"Traynor," Williams snapped, beckoning her to an empty bio-stretcher. "Sit."

Sam immediately parked herself on the surface, swallowing nervously. Any sort of positive camaraderie that had formed between herself and the lieutenant had completely evaporated. As soon as Sam had moved to the stretcher, Ashley's attention was elsewhere.

"Parker!" she barked at a nearby medic.

"Yes, ma'am," he responded, trotting up to her.

"See to Serviceman Traynor here," she gestured at younger woman. "She banged herself up pretty good trying to help some of the colonists."

"Aye, ma'am," Parker nodded, already activating his omni tool and beginning a full-body scan as Ashley retreated.

Sam watched her go, feeling a twinge of disappointment that Williams hadn't bid her farewell.

 _Oh, grow up_ , she chided herself. _She doesn't care about your bloody feelings right now – her friend just appeared from the dead like a freaking zombie. An evil, Cerberus zombie…_ Samantha chewed at the inside of her lip, frowning at the confirmation that Shepard was at least _with_ Cerberus, if not working for them.

"I wonder why she was here…" she murmured.

"Shepard?" Parker asked. Sam jumped a little, completely unaware she'd said anything aloud.

"Oh!" she stammered, regaining her composure. "Yes, Shepard. And…Cerberus."

Parker shrugged, tapping away at his omni tool. Mechanized arms attached to the bio-stretcher zipped around Sam, drawing up various intravenous fluids from neatly organized bottles. "Well, who can really guess as to what Cerberus wants, right?" he asked rhetorically, still looking down at his interface. "All I know is if Shepard hadn't shown up, this whole colony would have been completely fucked. Cerberus or not, she's the reason some people actually made it out."

Several feelings tugged at Sam's gut. First, she was shocked to hear the extent of Shepard's involvement on Horizon. She'd had no idea why the alarms had stopped or what had happened to all the bug-things, but she supposed now that Shepard had ridden up on her proverbial white horse – as she always did – and saved the day yet again. Second, she suddenly felt sheepish that she hadn't said anything more to the Commander other than rattling off her rank like some kind of military service bot. Granted, if she'd known, she wasn't sure what exactly she would've said, especially given that Williams hadn't even let her salute Shepard properly. Lastly, Sam was finding herself extremely put off by Parker's glib comment regarding the relative fucked-ness of Horizon's residents.

Unsure of how to respond to any of the emotions brewing within her, she simply hummed noncommittally. Parker finally looked up from his omni tool.

"What brings you to Horizon anyway? You're not in uniform – were you stationed here with Lieutenant Williams?"

"Not quite," she responded, preferring to watch the bio-stretcher scan her vasculature and insert an IV port into her forearm rather than meet the medic's eyes. "I'm visiting."

Parker snorted. "Taking a tour of places where you definitely _shouldn't_ live?" he grinned.

Sam felt a hot ball of fury in her gut. "It's a bit late for that, unfortunately," she snapped, feeling heat rush to her face. "My brother and I were raised here, by our parents, who are now – as you might so callously put it – _fucked_ , having been taken by the Collectors to god-knows-where and having god-knows-what done to them!" She nearly shouted the last words. The medic's eyes had grown wide, a deep red flush rising up his neck.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-" he began to mumble, suddenly unable to meet her eyes.

"Yes, well, your apology doesn't do me a whole lot of good right now, so instead of wasting my time with that how about you scurry off and find someone else to take over my medical attention, because I think you and I are quite done here." Sam stared hard at him, her jaw working as she watched him nod and tap off the display on his omni tool before hurrying away.

She took a deep breath and leaned back against the slight incline of the bio-stretcher. Closing her eyes, she tried to calm herself, fully aware of the blood rushing through her veins at high pressure. Yelling at Parker, using that stone to break Ani free of the pod, even pulling Lieutenant Williams out of that fight…none of those were things that Sam would have normally considered doing, but today she had done them without a second thought. It was as if she had been driven by pure instinct, willfully ignorant of any consequences she might have faced.

 _Maybe the military really_ has _changed me_ , she considered, unaware that the same thought had crossed Daniel's mind earlier that day. _Or maybe this is just what people do when the ones they love are threatened…_

Her mind drifted to Shepard. She didn't dare claim to know the motivations behind the Spectre's actions, but she'd heard some about the woman's history. Sam knew she was from London – a fellow Brit – but that was where the similarities in their childhoods ended. She'd heard in the vids, and now in person, the Commander's accent; it was unlike the crisp tones of Sam's inflection, which was historically attributed to the middle and upper classes. It wasn't as if the Spectre was difficult to understand, merely that her somewhat lazy pronunciation of certain words would have made her voice stand apart from the Traynors'.

She also knew Shepard had grown up on the streets – first in the catacombs under Camden Town, and then later mostly in the Catholic Church. The exact details of her time both in the catacombs and in the church were sketchy at best, but Sam was fairly confident the reports that Shepard was raised by nuns could be counted as fact – one that made Sam cringe slightly, if the stories of Catholic nuns were to be believed.

Another story she'd heard that she was inclined to trust was that Shepard had lost a young sibling – not a blood sibling, or even a foster sibling _per se_ , but someone close enough - when she was around 12 or 13. According to this particular insight into the Commander's background, it was just this loss that finally ushered her off the streets and into the arms of the church, where she lived almost without incident - save a few minor encounters with law enforcement - until she was able to enlist in the military.

Reflecting on her own actions of the past day and chewing her lip thoughtfully, Sam supposed that she believed Shepard had lost a sibling because it was the only rational explanation she could conjure for the woman's utter selflessness. The Commander devoted her life to protecting the galaxy, even when its inhabitants refused to believe in the very real threats they faced. She'd even accepted the possibility of execution when she'd hijacked the Normandy and taken it through the Mu Relay to confront Saren, and she'd surely be accused of treason for defecting from the Alliance to work with Cerberus.

 _Those are the actions of a woman who is driven to protect those who cannot protect themselves... Is that what happened to me today?_ Sam wondered. _Of course, breaking one's nail with a rock is hardly comparable to stopping the complete destruction of the Cita-_

"Serviceman Traynor?" a voice interrupted Sam's self-criticism. She jumped once again, startled by the appearance of a new medic.

"Y-yes," she stammered, straightening on the bio-stretcher.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," the young woman smiled at Sam, lifting her omni tool and inputting a series of commands. The arms of the bio-stretcher began withdrawing liquid from a vial and attaching an IV bag to the port that had already been started by Parker. "Is there anything in particular I should know?"

"Um," Sam floundered, feeling very much caught off-guard. "I'm deathly allergic to melon – all kinds, really. Cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew," she began listing off melon species she could recall.

The medic's smile grew, and she tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "I meant health-wise."

"Oh!" Sam cried. "Of course, no, that makes complete sense, seeing as you're ready to inject me with a cocktail of medications." She frowned in thought, wishing she could administer the drugs herself and be done with it. She could feel the events of the day finally catching up to her, and she very much wanted to be alone. "Asthma," Sam told the medic. "I have asthma."

The woman nodded and gestured to the vial from which the mechanized arm was now drawing liquid. "I know," she said, glancing down at her omni tool.

"Wait, what?"

"Dr. Ricardi is my aunt," she explained as she sat down on the edge of the bio-stretcher, gesturing toward the other edge of the med tent. Sam looked curiously over the medic's shoulder and saw the doctor's unconscious form on a bio-stretcher next to Ani, who appeared to be in similar condition. "She didn't give me the details, of course – ethical guidelines and all that," the medic waved a hand vaguely as she continued. "But I put it together, especially when Parker came rushing over with his tail between his legs."

At the name of her former medic, Samantha rolled her eyes and groaned. "That man's an ass."

"That man _is_ an ass," the blonde agreed with a laugh. "I hope you find me more agreeable. I'm Lisa – Lisa Martin. It's only fair that you have my last name if I have yours."

"And my medical history, apparently," Sam responded in a halfhearted attempt at levity. "Nice to meet you," she extended a hand.

"Mm, perhaps we should hold off on that until you're all healed up," Lisa raised an eyebrow at Sam's blackened fingers.

"Well, I have quite a high pain tolerance," she intoned before wincing and examining her hands again. "Although, now that the adrenaline has fully worn off, I'm actually realizing that to be quite untrue."

Lisa smiled and patted Sam's knee. "Well, you're all set for now – the pain meds will be pumping soon. We'll just keep you here a few hours, but I'll be back later for that handshake. And, of course, to thank you for saving my family." The medic held Sam's gaze a beat too long before rising from the bio-stretcher and disappearing further into the med tent.

 _What in the hell?_ Sam thought as she watched the blonde retreat. Normally, she would have been tantalized at the prospect of an attractive woman potentially flirting with her, but now she felt only exhausted and bereft. It had been just five hours since she and Daniel had shut themselves in the safe room, but it felt like a week.

Sam leaned her head back against the bio-stretcher, looking out across the dark colony and aching for her family. She wasn't sure what she was going to do next, but Daniel's words played over and over in her mind.

 _I need to take these bastards down._

* * *

 _A/N: So that's the first installment. I'm not sure how much of ME3 I want this to cover. It's not going to be a one-shot as I've already started writing more (as mentioned above), but I'm also not sure I want to go through all of ME3. If I did, it would be from Sam's perspective_

 _My typical pairing is FShep/Liara – pretty much every time I play through that's what I go with. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with Sam and the Commander. I haven't decided a lot of it! Please let me know what direction you would like this to go in the reviews. I will hopefully have the second chapter up in the next few days._

 _I do have another fic in the works that will proceed from ME1-3, with Shepard as the focus. Those of you who are reading my Dragon Age story know that I like to begin with companion backgrounds – I'll be doing that as well, and have already written them for Liara, Wrex, and Kaidan, and I've fleshed out my background and character profile for Shepard. I will begin posting those shortly._

 _Again, please let me know what you think in the reviews and what you'd like to see if there's something in particular!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: When Lightning Strikes Twice**

 _Smoke rose in lazy curly-q's toward the vents of the Situation Room on Arcturus Station, making its way to central filtration to be recycled through the rest of the system._

 _Admiral Mikhailovich puffed pensively on the half-spent cigar clenched between his middle- and forefingers._

" _Attempting to understand Shepard's movements with Cerberus is a lost cause," he stated resolutely, ashing the cigar in a marble tray situated on the table. "The Alliance must move past that unfortunate turn of events and focus on the more pressing matters at hand. I must say – should we even be surprised? She should have never been in command of the Normandy to begin with."_

 _Admiral Hackett clenched his jaw, sighing quietly. He wondered idly how exactly it was that prick had gotten promoted before reminding himself that humanity was, for all intents and purposes, at war with the Collectors; people did stupid things during wartime._

" _Noted," Hackett stated neutrally. "What are these more pressing matters you believe we must address?"_

" _Fehl Prime," he responded, looking at a portable terminal set up in front of him. He clicked through a couple menus to display a map of the colony in the center of the table. "Their labs are among the most prolific and profitable installments of the SA – a Collector attack would devastate our R &D branch. We should consider them a prime target and thus a top priority for Alliance protection."_

" _The Collectors have not thus far demonstrated a particular interest in our, as you say, profitable facilities," piped in Rear Admiral Russolillo, her singsong accent sounding through the room._

" _Do you presume that we are in any position to know what the Collectors do or do not have an interest in?" he answered contemptuously._

 _Admiral Hackett shut his eyes, resisting the urge to point out that it was under just such a presumption that Mikhailovich was trying to divert resources to Fehl Prime. The other Alliance officials of the investigatory council remained silent as well._

 _But the Rear Admiral from the Italian branch of the SA held her ground. "I do not presume to know anything that Intelligence has not provided."_

 _A tense silence hung in the air as Mikhailovich puffed on his cigar once more._

" _Intelligence has not provided much of anything," he replied curtly._

 _At this, Hackett could not stay quiet. "Our Intelligence Analysts have been working around the clock to provide_ reliable _intel for Alliance Tactical."_

" _And yet here we are," clipped Mikhailovich, waving vaguely at the room. "You must understand," he began, the condescension creeping into his voice, "Collector activity is merely an abstract for these Analysts – they have no concept of the consequences of inaction."_

 _The rage building within Hackett burst forth, and he slammed a fist down on the table. "That accusation is as inaccurate as it is distasteful. Not three days ago, an Intelligence Analyst worked three shifts straight to decrypt Collector transmissions that she herself intercepted. And before you make another ill-advised comment," Hackett's voice warned dangerously, "she was on Horizon visiting her family when the Collectors struck and abducted both_ _of her parents."_

 _He heard Russolillo and at least one other official inhale sharply, and Mikhailovich appeared momentarily disarmed._

This fool has no idea what his own people have endured _Hackett thought bitterly as he stared the man down._

" _Very well," Mikhailovich finally responded. "And what did this Intelligence Analyst discover?"_

 _Hackett shifted uncomfortably. He knew what would follow would be nigh unbelievable._

" _Her intel suggests that the Collector home base is located beyond the Omega 4 relay."_

 _Barely had he finished his sentence before Mikhailovich snorted derisively. "And I suppose they are guarded by an army of unicorns and dragons as well?" he asked, ashing his cigar once more._

 _Hackett ground his teeth so hard he was certain the others were able to hear. "Serviceman Traynor is arguably the most adept Intelligence Analyst I have ever seen-"_

" _This council is not meeting to assess your subjective observations," Mikhailovich spat._

" _If we were to devote more resources to assessing the relay and how we might traverse it, we-"_

" _Enough!" it was the younger man's turn to slam his fist. "We will send a military contingent to Fehl Prime, and that is the final word – lest you forget whom Fleet Master Matthews has appointed head of this council?"_

 _The two men stared at each other for several tense beats._

" _I have not forgotten," Hackett sighed. "But I do have a request."_

" _Speak, then."_

" _I would like to ask that Serviceman Traynor be transferred to Fehl Prime as part of the military contingent. She is more than capable, and she has a personal interest in stopping the Collectors. Traynor is one of the most intelligent and driven individuals I've ever met, and I would like to evaluate her field operations."_

 _Mikhailovich regarded his cigar as if contemplating its merits._

" _Granted," he answered curtly._

" _Also," Hackett continued before Mikhailovich could adjourn the meeting. "I would like to ask you to provide secondary authorization for Traynor's promotion to Operations Chief, with the title of Communications Specialist."_

 _Normally it was within the Admiral's power to promote one of his subordinates to the next level. In this case, however, a promotion to Operations Chief meant that Traynor would be rising three grades – such advancement required the sanction of more than one top-ranking official._

" _If she is so adept at her position, why are you requesting this now?" Mikhailovich's grey eyebrows knitted._

" _She needs the clearance and authority that comes with rank," Hackett responded simply. "She is shackled by her status."_

 _Mikhailovich sighed briefly. "Very well. O.C. Traynor will act as an Individual Augmentee to Delta Squad and report to the Port at 0800 tomorrow."_

" _Delta Squad will serve you admirably, sir," Captain Toni interjected quickly._

 _Hackett nodded, feeling a wash of relief. It wasn't often that he encountered a servicemember who inspired such confidence in him, but Traynor was one such individual._

" _Thank you, Admiral."_

 _Mikhailovich nodded, stubbing out his cigar._

" _Dismissed."_

* * *

The Phoenix Massing, Fehl Prime _,_ _3 months after the Collector attack on Horizon_

Sam poked a fork halfheartedly at a plate of what she supposed was meant to be meat loaf, potatoes, and peas. Somehow, it had all taken on a somewhat uniform grey color, and she was feeling rather uninspired by the meal before her.

"Mind if I sit, Traynor?"

She glanced up to see a massive man standing before her, clutching a tray of his own. It seemed miniscule compared to his giant frame.

 _What was his name?_ she squinted, recognizing him from the shuttle she'd ridden with Delta Squad to and from their transport ship. _I want to say 'Butch'…?_

"James," he told her as if answering her thoughts. "Vega," he added.

"Yes, of course," she waved airily. "Please, James," she gestured to the empty seat across her. "It's quite brave of you to sit with the colony leper," she joked, tilting her head towards the thoroughly empty table at which she sat.

"Eh, I like my space," he responded as he settled in. "No matter the cost."

She smiled good-naturedly and resumed poking at her food. A few moments passed before James piped up.

"We call it surprise loaf."

Sam looked up, slightly startled by his interjection. "Sorry?"

He pointed at the food on her plate. "Surprise loaf. We think it's supposed to be meat loaf, but, well…who can be sure?" he shrugged, starting in on his own helping.

She attempted to take another bite before sighing and setting down her fork.

"I've never been good at faking it," she commented before she could stop herself.

James coughed into his tray.

"Beg your pardon?" His eyes were wide.

She snorted, waving at him. "Nothing, nothing. Just making a piss-poor joke."

"Those are my favorite kind," he told her with a grin. "So, about not faking it…"

"Don't bother," she interrupted, taking a sip of her water. "You'd be wasting your efforts."

"Ah," he hummed, taking another bite of surprise loaf. "Taken?"

Traynor snorted a sip of water, coughing it out sharply. "God, no," she set the glass down, swiping at her mouth. "Aggressively single. Just…well, I suppose you and I might find ourselves in competition."

James nodded slowly, loading up his fork. "I get you, I get you," he swallowed another bite. "Nah, that's good," he continued after considering for a moment. "I could use some advice – you know, chick-wise."

Sam opened her mouth to tell him to shove off, before she reconsidered. It had been quite lonely since she'd returned to Arcturus after that clusterfuck on Horizon, and then being shuttled to Fehl Prime…granted, she was beyond grateful for the promotion, but she still felt a hollow void in her gut. She wasn't exactly in a position to turn down a potential friendship.

"All right," she agreed after a moment. "Shoot."

"Now?" James asked incredulously, pushing the last bits of his food into a pile for consumption.

Sam shrugged. "If not now, maybe some other time then."

The marine scooped the last of his surprise loaf into his mouth, swallowing happily and glancing at his omni tool. "No, let's stick with now," he said, looking back up at the O.C. "I'm supposed to go to a party in the colony. Wanna join?"

Sam chewed the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. She hadn't been off base since she'd arrived with Delta Squad, having instead thrown herself into her work, breaking only to get in touch with Daniel or when Alliance regs demanded it. Finally, she nodded.

"All right," she told him slowly. "I think I'd like that."

James raised his eyebrows. "You need it, more like. I've seen you around the comm room – you're the first one there and the last one to leave."

"Not much else around here for an egghead lesbian like myself to do but work," she shrugged, sipping at the water.

Vega couldn't help a laugh. "There's a whole world outside of base! You never know what you might find."

"I guess we'll see tonight," she raised a brow.

"That we will," he nodded, checking the time again. "Meet me at the northeast checkpoint in ten minutes."

"Roger that, Vega," she responded, suddenly a bit excited at the prospect of doing something besides battling VIs in chess all night.

xxx

It had only taken Sam a few minutes to change into her Alliance-appointed liberty uniform. Liberty wasn't quite as lenient as leave, despite the name. Although they'd been granted to permission to depart from base for the night, they were still representatives of the Alliance, which meant dressing and behaving accordingly.

"Here she is!" Vega called, opening his broad arms as Sam saluted the deck master on her way out of the base.

"She is here," agreed Sam, smirking and striding towards the marine. "So, where are we headed?"

"Just a quick walk," he told her, already leading the way. "I was stationed on Fehl Prime before – a couple years ago," he added with a shrug. "Made some friends along the way. Truth be told, I was glad to be assigned back here. I've been off-base to visit a couple times since."

Sam nodded, looking around as they went. It had the same sort of design as most ICUPE colonies: branching walkways leading to different neighborhoods full of prefabs that all looked the same – some detailed landscaping here and there. She would've been lying if it didn't tug at her heart a little, conjuring images of her home on Horizon.

 _Former home_ , she reminded herself. The past few months had been a roller coaster – mostly downhill. More often than not, Sam found it completely impossible to sleep at night. On the rare occasion that she was able to drift off, she awoke violently and dripping in sweat. In her nightmares, she watched both of her parents as they were taken by the Collectors, and finally Daniel, ripped from her own hands and incapacitated in one of those horrid pods-

"Hey, stay with me," Vega leaned down, grabbing Sam's elbow gently.

She swallowed and blinked, unaware that her steps had slowed. "Sorry," she murmured, matching his pace again.

James looked at her expectantly. Realizing she wasn't going to continue, he spoke instead. "I get it, Traynor."

The young woman looked at him quizzically.

"C'mon, you know gossip," he shrugged. Her eyebrows shot up, and he held up his hands. "Hey, I never participated, but I got ears, you know? I…well, I heard about Horizon."

The last word hung in the air for a few beats.

"Oh." It was all Sam could bring herself to say.

"Hey," he stopped walking and gently grabbed her shoulder. "Nobody knows the details," he leaned down to meet her eyes. "But I gotta tell you – no matter what, you're a hero in the Alliance's eyes."

Sam swallowed, forcing herself to continue meeting Vega's gaze.

"Yeah," he nodded, seeing the disbelief. "You know, soldiers talk," he shrugged, looking off over her shoulder before meeting her eyes again. "But, when they talk about you…well, you should know the talk is good."

Sam ducked her head, blushing in spite of herself. She wasn't sure whether James was telling her the truth or just trying to get her to walk faster, but she appreciated it nonetheless.

"Thanks, James," she said, looking up again.

He clapped her shoulder. "Don't go all soft on me now! You're the Guardian of Horizon!"

Sam blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You know us marine types, we like exciting nicknames."

"The…Guardian of Horizon?"

"Yep," James affirmed, continuing toward the party. Sam fell in step alongside him. "Not sure who came up with it, but it just kind of stuck."

The young woman stared at him, mouth slightly agape. Finally, she smacked him on the shoulder. "You're _so_ full of shit!"

"I'm not!" Vega cried out, throwing his arms up. "Seriously – ask any of the Deltas; they'll all tell you the same thing."

Sam hummed suspiciously. "I'm gonna take you up on that."

James was unfazed. "You should," he shrugged, leading her down a walkway to a prefab that was bustling with activity.

They approached the front door and James tapped at the call button. A second later, a gentle beeping invited the couple to announce themselves.

"Second Lieutenant Vega reporting for party duty!" he shouted into the comm. The door slid open, admitting them to the prefab.

"James!" Two female voices sounded simultaneously. Sam watched from the background as two young women approached the marine and hugged him enthusiastically.

"Rebecca and Amy, my two favorite colony urchins!" he embraced the young women happily. Pulling away, he gestured at his companion. "This is my friend, Sam – the most talented Communications Specialist the Alliance has ever seen!" he boasted, grinning broadly at the O.C.

Sam tucked a strand of hair behind her ear self-consciously. "James has a knack for exaggerating my accomplishments," she told them, extending a hand towards Rebecca, who shook it eagerly. Sam placed her at about 16 years old before shifting her glance and extending her hand towards Amy.

"Well I, personally, am inclined to believe his claims," the older blonde said; Sam guessed she was only a couple years younger than herself. "It's a pleasure to meet The Guardian of Horizon. I have to say," she pulled the O.C. a little closer and smiled, "I feel safer already with you here in our humble colony."

"Oh!" Sam cried in surprise, feeling a touch of heat in her cheeks. "Thank you," she swallowed. "I'm glad my legendary reputation has preceded me. Although let's not test that – otherwise you might discover that I'm actually quite awkward and incompetent."

"I doubt that very much," Amy responded in a quiet tone, holding Sam's gaze with her dark brown eyes a couple beats before releasing her hand. "Come now – follow us to the booze!" She threw up a triumphant hand and led the guests into the prefab where the party was already underway.

Sam gaped at James, who only looked back at her with his brows raised.

"Oh, did I not mention that Amy is an attractive and eligible lesbian?"

Sam bared her teeth and punched Vega's shoulder halfheartedly.

"Easy, easy," he told her, holding up his hands in surrender as they waded through knots of partygoers. "You should talk to her – you've got a lot in common."

"Oh?" Sam challenged.

"Yeah! See, Amy's been taking care of Rebecca for a couple years now. Their parents were miners – they were taken by slavers when they were out on a job."

"Ah," she nodded slowly. "The classic 'orphan connection,' is that it?" she asked, perhaps a little more sharply than she intended.

"Hey," James stopped mid-stride to look at his friend.

"I'm sorry," Sam tilted her head, meeting his eyes. "I just…I haven't quite gotten used to it."

Vega shrugged his massive shoulders. "You might not ever."

Samantha chewed her lip thoughtfully and gazed at him a moment. "Thanks."

"For what?" his brows drew together.

"Knowing that it might never be okay."

He nodded after a moment, looking away as Amy reappeared.

"I hope you don't mind," she intoned, passing a glass of wine to the Brit. "I sort of guessed you might like this…" the blonde trailed off hopefully.

Sam took a sniff at the wine before bringing the glass to her lips and taking a sip. Her eyebrows raised a bit at the subtle hints of chocolate and raspberries. She raised the glass again, drinking more deeply this time.

Amy's smile stretched across her face, and she turned to Vega. "I think the lady likes it!"

"So it would seem," he concurred, accepting the tequila bottle that Rebecca handed him. "Now, let's see how hard she can go."

"Easy, Vega," Sam chimed in, lowering the wine glass and savoring the taste. "We've only just arrived – or do you just want to get me pissed so you can ditch me without my notice?"

The massive marine grinned, spinning off the cap to the tequila bottle and taking a swig.

"Definitely not, Traynor."

"Well, if he does decide to ditch you, I'll happily fill in," Amy said, taking a sip of wine without breaking eye contact with Sam.

"You are quite the hostess," the O.C. replied nervously, a tint of red coloring her dusky cheeks.

A chime sounded on Amy's omni tool, audible over the music and murmur of conversation. The blonde glanced down and tapped at a blinking icon, calling up a security vid of the front door of the prefab.

"Treeya's here!" she announced, wiggling her eyebrows at James, who immediately flushed a deep scarlet.

"You didn't tell me she was coming!" The marine's voice seemed to have gone up in pitch.

Sam gaped slightly, looking between the two. "I think I'm missing something."

"You really are," agreed Rebecca.

"James, why don't you fill in the pretty woman while I tend to the door?" Amy grinned devilishly before vanishing through a knot of people.

Sam turned to him expectantly, a little smile playing on her face.

"It's no one- I mean, nothing!" James corrected himself. "Treeya is nothing- I mean, no one. Ay dios," the marine clapped a hand over his eyes.

"Treeya's an asari researcher – she works in the labs here," Rebecca filled in. "We all met back in '82 when James and some other Alliance dudes helped us fight off a bunch of Blood Pack assholes. I think they were trying to raid the labs or something?" she frowned, tapping at her lips before waving her hand. "Anyway, doesn't matter, they all ended up dead. The _point_ is…" the young girl grinned, "James here has quite the crush on her."

The marine glared at Rebecca before turning to Sam. "She's being a dramatic teenager. The girls just- oh, hey Treeya," he broke off as asari and host approached them.

"James," she inclined her head. "It's wonderful to see you again."

"Yeah, you too," he nodded with feigned nonchalance.

"I'm Samantha," the O.C. told Treeya.

"Treeya Nuwani," the asari responded, holding out a hand. Having been surrounded by humans for quite sometime, she was more than familiar with their unique customs.

Sam accepted her hand and shook it firmly, surprised at how cool her skin was.

 _Then again_ , _it's not as if I've touched many asari_. _Hey…now there's a thought,_ she mused before groaning inwardly. _God, I need to get laid._

"What were you folks talking about?" Amy asked, cocking her head to the side and smiling like she was hiding a secret.

"I was just telling Sam here about how we all met!" Rebecca covered.

"Oh yeah, that shit was crazy," the blonde said, looking at Sam. "Blood Pack bastards. Treeya's biotics did a number on them; it helps that she trained as an asari commando," she added, raising an eyebrow at Treeya before continuing. "Oh, and I guess James here saved some asses, too – not mine of course. I held my own."

"It's true," James affirmed. "Amy kicked ass."

"Not as much as the Guardian of Horizon, I'm sure," the blonde responded, turning the conversation back to Sam.

"Oh!" she cried out in surprise. "No, no," Sam shook her head. "That epithet makes me sound much more impressive than I am."

"Hey man, don't sell yourself short," James told her seriously. "You're damn good at what you do."

"It is true," interjected Treeya for the first time. "Even I heard whisperings of your accomplishments, all the way down in my windowless lab."

Sam blushed again. _Bloody hell, can I just stay a normal color for one hour tonight?_ she chided herself.

"And you really pull off that uniform," Amy added, raising her brows. Sam's color deepened and she hurriedly lifted her glass to her lips in an effort to hide it.

"Amen to that," agreed Vega, taking another sip of tequila.

"Ugh, James, don't be a perv," Rebecca swiped at his shoulder and rolled her eyes.

"What!" he cried, gesturing at Amy. "This one can say whatever she wants, but _I'm_ the sick one?"

"Yeah, pretty much," the young girl grinned. "Anyway," she turned to Treeya. "Would you like something to drink?"

"That would be lovely," the asari responded.

"Right this way!" Rebecca said happily, leading Treeya toward the kitchen.

Suddenly, a crisp chirping began emitting from both Vega's and Sam's omni tools. Looking at the incoming message they groaned in unison.

"So much for a fun night out," Sam pouted.

"We should've known better," agreed James. He turned his attention to Amy and pulled her into a farewell hug. "I'll make it up to you."

"You'd better," she answered as she released him.

"I'll catch you outside," he told Sam, setting off through the growing crowd of partygoers.

"I hope to see you again, too," Amy said, taking a step towards the O.C.

"I would like that," Sam responded with a nervous swallow. The blonde smiled momentarily before leaning in.

It happened so quickly that Sam didn't register the kiss until it was already happening. After regaining her composure, she relaxed into it, idly wondering how long it had been since she'd kissed someone.

Amy pulled away and met Sam's gaze, her eyes twinkling. "Maybe we can pick up where we left off."

"Y-yes," the O.C. stammered, trying to play it cool. "We'll…make it a date," she added, a subtle flush on her neck.

"Perfect," the blonde told her. "I'll see you later, Guardian of Horizon."

Sam groaned. "By then you'll have probably realized that's utter bullshit," she smiled in spite of herself before turning around and heading after Vega.

xxx

Rejoining the marine outside of the prefab, Sam took in a deep gulp of air, steadying herself.

"So, that was a long goodbye," James said slyly, raising his eyebrows at the O.C.

"Oh, come off it," Sam murmured, unable to help a grin.

"What happened?" he asked, seeing the look on her face.

"Nothing," she clipped, falling into step with him as they made their way back to base.

"What happened?" he prodded.

"Nothing!" she insisted even as her smile grew.

"You are so full of it, chica."

"Fine," Sam whined. "Fine. We kissed, that's all."

"Woo-hoo!" Vega hooted victoriously, throwing his hands into the air. "That's. My. Girl!" He punctuated every word with a playful punch to Sam's shoulder.

"Oh my god," the O.C. covered her eyes in embarrassment, "you're making a scene."

"Worth it. Man! I knew it, as soon as we got there. The way Amy was looking-"

The chirping of their omni tools cut off his sentence. He grunted in frustration, opening up the comm link.

"Vega!" he barked.

"Where the hell are you guys?" It was Essex, a member of Delta Squad.

"We're on our way back – I already responded to the summons, pendejo," James retorted.

"Make it double-time." Sam frowned at the urgency in Essex's voice. "You know I can't give you specifics on an unsecured channel, so hurry the fuck up and get to the comm room."

Glancing at each other, James and Sam broke into a fast jog, arriving quickly back at base. Hurriedly saluting the deck master as they reentered, they made their way immediately to the comm room, which was located several stories beneath the hangar. The depth allowed for protection in the event of hostile groundside forces, and the proximity to the hangar provided rapid evacuation in an emergency.

"Vega. Traynor." Captain Toni greeted them.

"Captain," they responded in unison before joining the rest of Delta Squad at the table.

"Communications have gone dark," he informed them immediately. "We are unable to get any signal off-world. Our comms technicians have identified a jamming signal on the colony outskirts." As he spoke, he tapped in several commands at a terminal, calling up a map of the colony with a red blinking dot indicating the position of the jamming signal.

At her own terminal, Sam flipped through a couple menus to access the communications signal logs.

"Sir, are we certain the jamming signal is what's prohibiting our off-world communications?" her eyes were scanning rapidly over the display.

"That is what the data gathered by our technicians indicates, yes," Captain Toni frowned. "It's a jamming signal, Traynor – what else would it do?" he couldn't help but add.

"It's just that…" she began, feeling slightly flustered when she looked up to see all eyes on her. "Well, when a mid- or long-range signal is being jammed or blocked, you get a dampening in the amplitude of the frequency oscillation."

Toni looked back at her blankly.

"If I may, sir?" she indicated the display, and he nodded in response. Tapping in a couple commands, the map of the colony shifted to a projection of what she had been viewing on her terminal. "Above, here, is an example of a long-range communication signal that is transmitting without a problem. On the bottom, the signal has been jammed." The Deltas could now see what she meant – the peaks and valleys of the frequency were much smaller in the jammed signal.

"This is what I'm seeing in the logs from the past twenty minutes," she punched in another string of commands, projecting the data next to the graphs.

James frowned and leaned forward. "It looks more like the unjammed signal."

"Exactly," she nodded at him. "The logs show that although our signal is not transmitting optimally, it's still transmitting. Based on the absolute values I can approximate with 98% confidence that our broadcast is in comparable range of a normal signal," she met the captain's eyes. A knot began to form in her stomach as she spoke her next words. "I believe the data indicates that the communication relay is the problem, not the original transmission."

"Wait, wait. So you think-" James started slowly.

"Yes," she looked at him seriously. She could tell from the subtle pale of his complexion that he understood the significance. "I think something has taken out the comm buoys."

There was a tense but brief silence.

"No," Captain Toni stated resolutely. "That would require collision with a ship or, at the least, the discharge of a very large weapon. Our scans do not indicate anything out of the ordinary in or near Fehl Prime vicinity."

 _Whatever destroyed the comm buoys is likely capable of fooling our scanners_ , she snapped in her head. Cognizant of her rank, however, she merely nodded and called back the projections. In a few moments, the colony map had reappeared.

"We will proceed with the initial assessment that the jamming signal is blocking off-world transmissions," he turned his attention to the rest of the squad. Sam maintained a neutral face, despite the growing sick feeling in her gut. If her instinct about the comm buoys was right, then whatever had taken out their communications was likely fabricating the jamming signal.

 _Which means it's a trap,_ she thought before she could stop herself.

"You will travel to within one klick of the jamming location in the M35 Mako and thereafter proceed on foot. Vega, you will take point. Traynor will remain here and monitor communications as well as provide confirmation as to whether or not off-world signal transmission is restored following destruction of the jamming signal."

Sam nodded, biting back another comment.

"Vega, Treeya will be joining as well. Preliminary scans indicate that the jamming signal is in close proximity of an artifact of unknown origin. She is already in the hangar preparing to depart."

"Yes, sir," James responded. Sam supposed the asari had been summoned when she was off with Rebecca. Vega's face meanwhile remained completely neutral. Sam had learned that night that he could be quite playful off-duty, but on-duty he was every inch a professional.

"Let's get this taken care of nice and quick," the captain made eye contact with each of them. "Dismissed."

The soldiers of Delta Squad rushed off to the equipment lockers to get suited up. On his way from the comm room, James placed a hand on Sam's shoulder.

"Keep an eye on me out there."

"I'll be there every step of the way," she told him, perhaps too seriously; she couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

"Good." He nodded in return, clapping her once before stepping past and jogging through the door.

Sam moved to her station, which was equipped with a moderately comfortable chair and three consoles – one narrow console on her left, and two larger consoles side-by-side in front of her. She tucked her ear pieces in her respective ears – the left ear bud picked up comm chatter on the open channel, and the right was for direct communication with any squad member. The narrow console allowed her to toggle through squad members and select just one or all of them, depending on what was needed.

The middle consoles could display a variety of data. Her preferred setup was to keep a map of the mission area, complete with live updates of troop movements and communication signals. The other screen provided more detailed data of an area on the map, and otherwise displayed a running log of regional communications in real time if she didn't have anything specific selected.

Anyone but Samantha or another highly-trained Communications Specialist might take one look at her station and become cross-eyed from data overload. But the Brit wasn't promoted to Operations Chief from Serviceman for nothing; she could glance at the consoles and give an instant report of virtually any information needed. If a squad member's positioning system should fail, Sam could look at the communication lag and accurately approximate their location. Based on unique signatures, she was able to immediately identify the communications hardware and software used by both allied and hostile forces. If her terminal was equipped with 3D signal analysis software – as this terminal was – she could even determine the direction from which signal interference originated, in the event that communications or scanners were blocked. Her hands-on familiarity with the equipment was part of what had made her an invaluable asset when she was in R&D.

In short, Vega had been right when he'd said she was damn good at her job.

Once settled, Sam selected the open channel on the narrow console. "Delta Squad, this is O.C. Traynor testing open channel communications. Please confirm."

" _We hear you loud and clear."_ A slightly tinny rendition of Vega's voice piped into her left ear bud.

"Copy that," she responded. "Commencing test of individual frequencies." Sam systematically selected through the squad members and confirmed that the private channels were working as well. Noticing that she did not have a direct link to the asari, she patched back to the open channel.

"Treeya, it seems I'm unable to access your unique frequency. Can you read me the CID that's listed on your omni tool?"

The asari recited a couple letters followed by a string of numbers. Scrutinizing the console, Sam swiftly identified the signal emitted by the asari's omni tool and manually synthesized a connection.

" _Establishing communication link,"_ Sam's voice sounded over the open channel as the Mako took off toward the outskirts.

"Yes, I hear you," Treeya said after a few beats, subconsciously reaching up to her own ear bud. James hadn't heard Sam over the open channel and assumed she'd arranged a direct line with the asari.

The marine turned his attention to a small screen on the side of the vehicle, idly watching the live display of the plan position indicator. The PPI was nowhere as detailed as the information that Sam could access, but it allowed them to detect immediate threats in their area.

The comm chatter was minimal as the Mako rolled out of the colony proper and through the rocky, undeveloped landscape that surrounded the settled region. The silence was broken only by timed interval reports of their coordinates and visual observations, both of which were relayed by their tech specialist, Nicky.

Back in the comm room, Sam silently watched the movement indicators on her screen, eyes occasionally flickering over to streaming data logs. Captain Toni was equally quiet behind her, staring at the holographic Combat Data Projection over the center of the table.

" _Target indicator is approximately 1.5 klicks from current position,"_ Nicky's voice spoke into the open comm earpieces both Sam and Toni wore. _"Slowing approach…"_ Several moments passed before Nicky spoke again. _"Target indicator is just over one klick. We are departing the Mako and proceeding on foot."_

There was some faint rustling as, Sam supposed, Treeya and the Deltas left the Mako and arranged their gear.

" _Traynor, I'm flipping on the MPPI,"_ Nicky told her through his direct line. _"Standby."_

"Copy that," she confirmed, narrowing the region of her display and flipping through several selection menus on her right-most console. In a matter of moments, the Mobile Plan Position Indicator appeared on the screen, an abbreviated log of its readings appearing directly below the display.

" _Please confirm link."_ The voice piped up in her ear bud once more.

"Looks good, Nicky," she responded. "What ranges am I looking at here?"

" _I've got the radius set to 200 meters. Frequency range is the target signal plus or minus 150 kilohertz."_

"Copy."

Sam watched their position indicators on her satellite map as they swiftly approached the target indicator. Nicky rattled off their distance from the target every 100 hundred meters. When they had reached 200 meters from the target, a small blip appeared on the feed from the MPPI, indicating the jamming signal.

Vega's voice piped up on the open comm.

" _Essex and Kamille, proceed to within fifty meters at the southern flanking position. Milque, head up to that ridge and cover the rest of us on the direct approach."_

There was a soft chorus of ayes, and Sam looked back over her shoulder to see the captain nodding in approval. A few tense minutes passed before Vega came back over the comm.

" _We have a visual of the artifact,"_ he informed the group. _"It looks like some kind of pillar – I could make out some strange inscriptions on the binocs. Treeya's looking now."_

" _The script is Prothean."_ The wonder in the asari's voice was evident even over the comm.

" _Traynor, you seeing anything weird?"_ Vega asked, referring to her satellite map.

"Not anything Nicky's MPPI isn't showing," she responded, but that uneasy feeling grew in her gut yet again.

 _A Prothean artifact and a fabricated jamming signal suddenly appear at the same time?_ She bit the inside of her lip.

"Be careful, Vega," Sam all but whispered, still staring at her display. "I've got a bad feeling-"

Before she could finish her sentence, her satellite map vanished and was replaced by a red text box.

CONNECTION LOST. REESTABLISH SATELLITE LINK.

Sam gasped and cried out, fingers immediately flying over her console as she tried to determine the nature of the disconnect. Behind her, Captain Toni gaped at the empty space the holographic projection had occupied only a second before. After a few moments, Sam shot to her feet, pressing a hand against the open comm ear bud.

"ABORT, VEGA!" She commanded him, turning around to meet the captain's eyes. "I repeat, abort the mission and return to the Mako!"

" _What the fuck is going on?!"_ he shouted back over the open channel. _"The jamming signal vanished right before the MPPI stopped functioning!"_

"I don't know, but something took out my satellite," Sam told him hurriedly, "just like it took out the comm buoys. I think the signal was fabricated, James-"

"Vega, get the fuck out of there!" Captain Toni interjected before Sam could finish explaining. On the open channel, Vega began shouting orders of retreat to the Deltas.

Just outside the comm room and elsewhere on the base, klaxons blared to life. All communications on the open channel severed, and Vega's voice cut out. Sam paled and dropped her hand from her ear, her wide eyes meeting Toni's.

"Who's on deck?" he asked her urgently.

Sam's mouth worked wordlessly. All rational thought had fled her mind, save one.

 _Not the Collectors. Not again._

"Traynor!" Toni rushed over and grabbed her forearm.

"Uh-um," she stammered, swallowing and searching her memory. "Paxton!" Sam exclaimed, recalling his face as she saluted him when hurrying back to base.

The captain nodded and looked down at his omni tool, attempting to raise the Serviceman on his omni tool. General broadcast communications were going haywire, but peer-to-peer communications operated on a different system.

" _Captain Toni!"_ Sam heard Paxton's voice from the man's omni tool.

"What's the sitrep?" he snapped.

" _They're everywhere, landing in the colony proper by the hundreds!"_

"Who, Paxton?"

" _The Collectors, sir."_ The Serviceman's voice hitched. _"They're here."_

Toni looked up to Sam, who was slowly shaking her head and backing away.

The wailing of the alarms, which seemed to have quieted as she watched the captain, came roaring back in full force. Samantha shut her eyes, blood pounding in her ears. She had suddenly been thrust back to the abduction on Horizon, and she leaned hard against the back of her chair.

"Traynor, I need you to hail Vega!" Somewhere in the distance someone was calling out to her.

 _Was it Daniel? Williams?_

Her mind was hazy, and the taste of bile rose up in her throat. Turning to the side and leaning on her knees, she doubled over and wretched.

"Traynor, hail Vega!" The voice was closer now. Sam closed her eyes harder, feeling a burning heat behind her eyelids.

Suddenly, strong arms grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her upright.

"I gave you a goddamn order, Traynor!"

Hearing an edge of warning in the mysterious voice, her subconscious training kicked in and she snapped into a salute.

"Yes, sir," she responded, even as her vision began to clear. Captain Toni was looking into her eyes seriously. She swallowed and steadied herself. "Yes, Captain," she said, nodding at him in response to his unspoken question.

A seasoned veteran, the captain was no stranger to post-traumatic stress disorder. Nearly every soldier he knew had it. While it was unusual for a servicemember who worked in Intelligence to experience it, but he knew what Sam had gone through. The Guardian of Horizon, he'd heard them call her - a hero's nickname.

But those usually came at a high price.

"Good," he clapped her shoulder and returned to his call with Paxton, trying to get as many details as possible. Sam turned away, swiping at her eyes before trying to establish a link to Vega's omni tool.

She watched her own omni tool intently, a soft chirp beeping twice when the call connected.

" _Traynor what's going on?"_ the marine's voice was frantic. _"I can't raise Essex, Kamille, or Milque; we've completely lost contact."_

"It's the Collectors, James," Sam responded, forcing herself to stay focused on the present. "They're in the colony, hundreds of them. You need to get back here-"

Vega swore, and the Brit could hear him relaying the information to, she presumed, Nicky and Treeya, who had been with him on the direct approach.

" _We've gotta find the other Deltas,"_ Vega's voice was still frantic. _"Nicky, you-"_

"No time, Lieutenant!" Toni appeared by Sam's side, shouting into her omni tool. "You need to get back to the colony stat."

There was a tense silence before Vega's voice piped back in.

" _Aye, sir."_

"Keep your link with Traynor open," the captain told him. "We're flying blind in here – whatever they're doing has disabled almost everything."

"James," Sam spoke up. "I need you to give me constant updates. I'll relay what I can to Arcturus via QEC – from there they can mobilize an evacuation and defense fleet."

"It's tedious, but it's all we've got right now," Toni sighed wearily into Sam's omni tool. "Hang in there, James."

" _You too, Captain."_ Vega's response was somber.

"I'm sorry, Sam," the captain turned his attention to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I'll lock down everything on my way out. As soon as evac gets here, we'll get you out, but we need those communications now."

"Aye, sir," she swallowed. She felt an uncharacteristically strong urge to grab the nearest assault rifle and mow down every Collector she could find, but if she didn't coordinate with Arcturus, nobody would make it out alive.

"You can do this, Sam," he clapped her on the shoulder before heading out of the comm room. She went over as the door slid shut and entered her authorization code to seal the door. The alarms dampened to almost nothing.

She returned to her station, rifling through several menus to link her omni tool with one of the consoles.

" _We're approaching the Mako,"_ James's voice piped up from her station.

"Vega, can you feed me your video?" she asked, already moving to open the quantum entanglement communications with Arcturus.

" _You got it,"_ he responded a breath before his video feed popped up on her console.

"Visual communications established," she reported, typing away her initial message to Arcturus.

Because of the enormous energy and expense required for QEC, it was impractical (and impossible, for a military base of their small size) to send video or even audio over QEC; far more data could be sent via simple text.

" _We're in the Mako headed back to the colony,"_ James informed her. Sam's eyes flickered back to the console with his video feed – based on the angle of the image, she presumed that he was piloting the vehicle.

There were several moments of silence as Sam tapped away her message to Arcturus, flagging it as urgent before sending it.

" _Holy shit!"_ Vega's cry broke the quiet.

"What?" Samantha peered anxiously at the display. The quality was poor, however, and she couldn't make out anything beyond a short distance in front of the marine.

" _The Collector ship – it's fucking massive."_

The bile rose up again in Sam's throat, and she shut her eyes against a wave of dizziness.

As if reading the silence, James spoke again.

" _Traynor…are you doin' okay?"_

She nodded, momentarily forgetting that he couldn't see her.

"Yeah," she opened her eyes. "I'm- yeah."

A gentle beep from her console drew her attention. It was a response from Arcturus, requesting further details and informing her that they were mobilizing the Second Fleet, the Alliance's top colony defense fleet.

She exhaled a sigh of relief. "Arcturus is sending the Second Fleet."

Vega whistled. _"We must really be in deep shit."_

Samantha smiled at his attempted levity, sending what little information she had to Arcturus before standing from her station and approaching the table in the middle, calling up a display of the closed circuit security cameras they had throughout the colony.

" _We're approaching the colony proper,"_ James reported. In the background, she could hear him ordering Nicky to man the weapons systems.

"Be careful, Vega," Sam warned from the table. "I've got the security feeds up – there are Collectors posted at the borders."

" _To keep people from leaving,"_ Treeya's quiet voice came over the comm.

" _There's a cluster at twelve o'clock."_.

" _I got 'em."_ Nicky spoke in the background.

The communications were punctuated by the sounds of gunfire for several seconds before James whooped.

" _Take that, assholes."_

Sam looked back at his video feed, spotting the Collector bodies as the Mako rolled past them. The vehicle came to a stop, and she watched as the door swung open and James jumped down.

" _We're departing the Mako and proceeding into the colony on foot,"_ he told Sam. _"What's the status of the Second Fleet?"_

Samantha glanced at the clocks on the wall. "They should arrive in the next 30."

" _Good. Hey, can you see anything on those cameras?"_ Vega read off their coordinates.

Samantha selected the security feeds in their region and pulled them up.

"Yeah, I've got eyes on your area."

" _We should try and make our way to the evac point to clear it."_

" _James,"_ Treeya cut in. _"I can attempt to infiltrate the ship – perhaps there is data on there that could help us-"_

" _Are you crazy? That's a good fucking way to get yourself killed."_

" _Vega,"_ Nicky's voice was insistent. _"There could be intel on there – shit that could stop this from happening again."_

" _No, it's too risky."_

" _James, I was_ trained _for this,"_ the asari snapped, reminding him of her commando training. _"We can't pass up this opportunity."_

On the video feed, Sam could see that James had turned away from the others. After a moment, he turned back.

" _Fine."_ He huffed in resignation. _"Sam?"_

"Yes?"

" _Get us a path to that dreadnought."_

Sam called up a colony map and pulled back all of the available security footage. Scrutinizing the feeds, she traced a route down which they would encounter the least resistance to the ship.

"Alright, Vega, proceed west for two blocks and then north-northwest for four."

" _Copy."_

Samantha watched Vega's live feed anxiously. The path she'd chosen was fairly clear, and the group only encountered a few foot soldiers as they progressed. Looking back at the security feeds, she rattled off a few more directions to Vega before calling back all of the footage from the adjacent areas to determine their next steps.

"Bloody hell!" she suddenly swore.

" _What's going on?"_

Sam shushed him. "About a dozen of them just appeared, half a block northeast of your location." On her console, she could see James motioning to Nicky and Treeya before edging carefully in that direction. A large group of Collectors came into view on his feed just before he jerked back into cover.

" _Fuck!"_ His voice was high-pitched.

"I can get you around them," Samantha whispered urgently.

" _It's not that. Those bastards- they've got Amy and Rebecca."_

Sam's mouth ran dry. She peered at the security footage, and could indeed make out two immobilized bodies being lowered into pods.

" _Sam,"_ the marine said after a moment, his voice pleading.

"No, James," the Brit responded. "There are far too many of them. You-" she faltered for a moment. "You have to leave them."

There were a couple beats of silence before Vega requested further instruction and Sam obliged.

After several more minutes of swift but careful progress, the dreadnought came into view on Vega's video feed and the asari's voice piped up.

" _I will proceed in alone. Keep an open link with me, and I'll inform you when I'm ready to rendezvous."_

" _Fine. Nicky and I will move back into the colony until then."_

Sam listened while Vega established communications with Treeya, watching on his feed as she moved toward the ship before melting into the shadows.

" _Alright, Traynor,"_ it sounded as if James was gritting his teeth. _"Point me in their direction. I need something to kill."_

Over the next twenty minutes, Sam used the security footage to direct Nicky and Vega to manageable pockets of Collector foot soldiers. She watched the footage with dread; no matter how many fell beneath their boots, there were still hundreds and hundreds more, and they were abducting colonists by the dozens.

" _Where do all these fuckers keep coming from?"_ Vega was incredulous.

" _They're certainly persistent,"_ Nicky agreed; Sam could hear the ratchet of a heat sink being popped from a rifle.

A gentle chime from her omni tool drew her attention.

"Captain?" she answered the call.

" _Traynor, a small contingent from the Second Fleet has arrived and the first shuttles are touching down,"_ Toni informed her. _"I need you to get to the hanger as soon as possible."_

"A small contingent?" Sam was in disbelief. "Command made it sound like they were sending the whole fucking fleet!"

" _Negative. I don't know what happened, but they only sent evacuation shuttles. You are to proceed to the hangar for evacuation immediately, as is Delta Squad."_

Sam grit her teeth. "Aye, sir."

" _Move quickly, Traynor. Toni out."_

" _What was that?"_ Vega piped up.

"Arcturus only sent evacuation shuttles," she told him, gritting her teeth once more. She moved to a small emergency weapons locker, entering her authorization code. The locker door slid open.

" _What? How the fuck are we supposed to take that ship down without reinforcements?"_

"We're not," the Brit responded, pulling out a pistol and clipping it to her belt. She slid several thermal clips into her pockets before hauling out an assault rifle and cocking it. "Toni ordered us to the hangar for immediate evac."

" _Us? You mean Delta, too?"_

"Yes." Sam moved back to her console, shutting it down. She peered up at the security footage to determine what she'd encounter on her way to the hangar. It suddenly occurred to her that she didn't see any of those bug-things she'd seen on Horizon. In fact, she hadn't seen any since she'd first called up the security footage when Vega had returned to the colony proper. She supposed that after the bug-things made an initial sweep through the colony, they were no longer needed; from what she'd heard in meetings, they were meant to immobilize humans to make abduction easier. In any event, it meant she was in significantly less danger without a hard suit.

" _Treeya's still in the ship!"_ Vega protested. In the background, Sam could hear him trying to raise her. After a few moments his voice came over her comm again.

" _Treeya, you've got to get out of there,"_ he spoke urgently. She could hear the asari respond but couldn't make out the words. _"They're sending us to the hangar for evac."_ A pause, and then, _"No, they didn't send reinforcements, just evac shuttles…I don't know."_

Vega snarled in frustration, making Sam jump. His voice was more direct when he came over the comm again.

" _Treeya got the intel, but she can't make her way out without assistance."_

"I can ask Toni to send an extraction team your way-"

" _No! That means even fewer people to evacuate the surviving colonists,"_ he snapped. Sam heard something slam in the background. _"Fuck!"_

" _Vega,"_ Nicky cut in. _"We need that intel. You heard Treeya – you know what she's got."_

Sam moved to the door as she attempted to hail Captain Toni.

"James, you and Nicky are going to retrieve Treeya. I will arrange a team that will extract you to evac," she told him sternly.

" _You can't give me an order-"_

"I just did," Sam cut him off before switching her link to the captain, informing him of the situation. After a brief exchange, she ended the call and spoke to James again.

"Captain Toni is sending three men to the dreadnaught, so you'd bloody well better get a move on!"

" _Fuck you, Traynor,"_ James spat. Sam knew he was upset because she was right - he didn't have to listen to her, of course, but he knew he had to make a choice. _"Fuck! Come on, Nicky,"_ she heard him snap.

"I'll meet you at evac."

" _Yeah, yeah,"_ he muttered.

Muting the call without cutting it, Sam tapped in her authorization code to unseal the door. The indicator switched to green and she activated it, moving through the exit. She paused for a moment to gather her bearings, closing her eyes and breathing deeply - there was only one path to the hangar. She opened her eyes and steeled herself before edging around the corner and raising the rifle's sight to her eye.

* * *

 _A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger. I'm working on the next installment! But you don't have to worry too much - our favorite comm specialist obviously makes it out alive!_

 _Thank you SO much to those who reviewed. To answer a question from fishbone76, I place Daniel at about 18 years old - 5/6 years younger than Sam. I'm inclined to agree that there aren't enough Sam/Shep stories. Maybe I'll add mine to the ranks..._


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